Pumpkin Perils
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: Maddy and her family go to choose a pumpkin as they do each year. But with Maddy especially stressed, tensions run high. That is, until an unexpected encounter forces Maddy to face her demons.


Wolfblood

Pumpkin Perils

The car pulled up on the gravel path at the farm's gates. Sunlight streamed between the trees bathing the hills behind them in a golden hue as the animals in the nearby fields grazed. Flowers skirted along the hedgerows, the late-year blooms beginning to die off. As everyone got out of the car, a plump man ran over to greet them. Red in the face and puffing from overexertion, he gave everyone the distinct impression that he definitely didn't run for pleasure. Maddy and Rhydian bit the inside of their cheeks to kill the laughter as Dan and Emma waited to see if he needed help.

"Welcome to the farm." He almost collapsed at their feet panting raggedly. "It's good to have you back again. And I see a new face as well."

"This is my boyfriend, Rhydian." Maddy grinned as she looped an arm around him.

"Hi." Rhydian nodded, unsure of what to do with himself. He hoped the man wouldn't press further, but he seemed to have his mind on other things.

"Right, well apologies for that undignified arrival. It's that time of year again and I have to be everywhere at once. You're here every year. You know the rules. I trust you can explain to the young man here?"

"Don't worry Mr Reaper, we've already done it." Emma nodded. There were only really three rules to the farm: stick to all the paths, don't tread on the crop patches unless it was to reach something you wanted and _never_ eat food as you were walking round since it could attract rats. They were easy enough to follow and so there hadn't been too many problems. Emma had run the pair of them through it in the car in case they forgot. Rhydian hadn't seen the point of the last one. It wasn't like they had any food anyway. He didn't dare take food in the car ever since they'd let him finish that half a Flake bar on the way to school. Despite his best efforts, the resulting mess still saw Dan chasing him around the garden with a piece of wood.

"Well, I'll be off then." Mr Reaper nodded as he turned to take his leave. Another car was already pulling into the car park, which was now starting to become crowded. He jogged off to meet the next family and the Wolfbloods could hear his ragged gasps for air receding as he got further away.

"Shall we have a look around then?" Emma scanned the pumpkin fields as she spoke, trying to find the clearest part. "I see a patch over there that looks like it's still decent."

"So you guys come here every Halloween?" Rhydian glanced at Maddy as they started in the direction Emma had indicated.

"It's my favourite part of Halloween." Maddy nodded. "That and having an excuse to play Silent Hill again." Rhydian couldn't help but laugh.

"Careful you don't do yourself an injury there, lad." Dan warned him. Rhydian managed to recover enough to turn to Dan and tell him he was fine, walking straight into a scarecrow as he did. It collapsed with a sickening crunch and Rhydian went down with it. Maddy ran to help him, desperately hoping that it was the wooden beams she'd heard breaking and not his bones. Fortunately, he stood up without a worry. Unfortunately, that was more than could be said for the scarecrow.

"What are we going to do now?" Emma shrugged. "I'm not paying for that!"

"You won't have to pay for it." Rhydian assured her. "It's just some old clothes, a pillow case and some straw. He can get plenty of straw in his barn, surely. And you can get old clothes at a charity shop."

"Why would he have straw in his barn?" Dan shot Rhydian a confused look.

"He's a farmer, isn't he?" Rhydian shrugged like it was obvious.

"Yeah, he's a _crop_ farmer!" Maddy corrected him. "Didn't you see the equipment in the field? They don't combine harvest sheep!"

"Well they should." Rhydian countered. "They're missing a trick. It would get the wool off them quicker _and_ cut them up so the butcher doesn't have to."

"Rhydian, that's horrible!" Maddy whacked him on the arm so hard the feeling went for a solid thirty seconds.

"Ow! What the hell?" Rhydian scowled as he realised that he was due an especially large bruise after that and wearing short sleeves had been a mistake.

"You know what, I can't even begin to imagine that!" Maddy growled as she stormed off. "I'm going to find a pumpkin."

"Maddy, what's wrong with you?" Rhydian went to follow her, but Emma stopped him with a firm hand on his arm.

"Give it time, pet." She glanced after Maddy who was now halfway up the field and looking ready to shove aside anyone who stood in front of her. "She told me school has been hell lately. I don't know the specifics but I guessed she was only one bad joke away from this."

"Oh, the Ks have been a nightmare." Rhydian nodded. "Mind you, they're all permanently wearing horror make-up. They don't need masks for trick-or-treating." Dan stifled a chuckle as Rhydian spoke. He'd only met the Ks a couple of times, but hadn't thought much to them at any point.

"Right, well just let her run her cause and she'll be back in a few minutes." Emma sighed, wiping her hands on her jeans where her palms had started sweating. "In the meantime, go have a look around for yourself, love. See if you can see a pumpkin that you like."

"Thanks, Mrs Smith." Rhydian managed to force a grin. "And thanks for having me over while Mrs Vaughan takes the boys to Manchester."

"It's not a problem, Rhydian." Dan chimed in. "It coincides with the full moon, so we'd have had you over anyway."

"That, and I think Maddy needs to have you near sometimes." Emma said as she bent down to look at a pumpkin and stood up again when she found out someone had managed to smash the back half in. "It's good for her to have someone her own age to share stuff with that she can't with the other kids. Even Tom and Shannon, there are some things that we as Wolfbloods just can't tell them. And there are some personal things, I'm sure, that Maddy would rather die than talk to her parents about."

"Yeah, that's true for anyone." Rhydian nodded.

"Exactly. I know _we_ both had that growing up." Emma shuddered involuntarily at the memory. "Don't worry about Maddy. She'll be fine. I'm pretty sure that she'll have shaken it off before we get back in the car. Oh, and I _do_ wish you'd stop calling me Mrs Smith. You know me too well love. It's Emma and Daniel. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Mrs Sm- Emma." He corrected himself quickly to be met with an approving nod from Emma.

Maddy stormed up the centre lane, pushing past anyone who was in the way. Her anger was boiling over. It wasn't what Rhydian had said. She'd known that was a joke. It was everything else at once that was pressing on her, making her feel like she was drowning. Muttering to herself, she shouldered her way through a crowd and didn't even care for the angry shouting behind her. She trudged on, pushing through the hedgerow. She knew she was leaving the fields and her family behind, but she didn't care. She could always find her way back. She knew where they were and they wouldn't leave without her.

As she broke into the new area, she stopped dead and took in the sight in front of her. A serene lake lay just down a small incline. Its waters sparkled on the surface, reflecting the sun's rays as the light danced over the top of it like diamonds skimming across a gossamer sheet. She made her way down the incline to the water's edge, her Wolfblood sight picking out a shape moving just below the surface. It was small and graceful, clearly well versed in swimming as though it were doing it all its life.

The moment Maddy made it to the water's edge, the shape seemed to notice her. It made its way to the bank and started climbing out, its hands grabbing at the sand there for purchase before crawling onto the land and getting to its feet. Only then did Maddy notice that it was a woman. She could only see her from the back, but her long brown hair shone with a radiance that made Maddy feel she paled in comparison. They were roughly the same height, but the girl's natural figure was one Maddy would have killed to have and she didn't even consider herself to be a figure-conscious person.

As the woman turned to face her, Maddy understood the magnitude of their similarity. The woman looked _exactly_ like her. It was her face to the point of being a spitting image. It was only her body that was different, standing at maybe an inch and a half taller and slightly more developed. It was as though someone had photographed her standing in front of a mirror with an instant camera, but got the angle slightly wrong so it looked like the reflection had a better body than she did.

"Who are you?" Maddy dared to ask. The woman stepped closer, her still-wet body seeming to glow in the sun's light. It had seemed to have become hotter than before at a rare and unseasonable warmth. Now it was almost blistering, blinding her as the figure approached. When the woman was within touching distance, Maddy was forced to close her eyes. The light was too strong for her to even open her a little. Even with her eyes closed, the harsh light still projected red on the insides of her eyelids, yet she didn't feel any pain.

Suddenly it stopped. All the warmth and light was gone, replaced by darkness and cold. Frantically, Maddy opened her eyes. She was glancing around in all directions, trying to make sense of it all. Sure enough, the light was gone. The ground under her feet was muddy and pockmarked with thistles. Brambles and sticky burr grass thrived on the hedgerows, blocking her escape back through them like natural barbed wire while fog had closed in all around her. It limited her vision making her feeling incredibly claustrophobic. It left her vulnerable and she instantly detested it. The water that had looked so calm and serene before was now a filthy looking quagmire that was filled by a mass of dark shapes. Maddy took a second to realise they were eels. There were so many packed into the space of the lake that it was impossible to count them. Some of them looked slightly deformed in various ways, but it was impossible to tell if they actually _did_ have two heads and over-enlarged teeth or whether she was just looking at two separate eels at any one time. Whatever the case, she was deeply disturbed by the way they all pushed against each other, occasionally breaking the surface with violent thrashing movements.

Looking to her right, Maddy saw three figures standing in a triangle, cloaks concealing their identities. A glowing blue light sat between them, glowing faintly. Cautiously, she made her way over. As she got nearer, she noticed someone lying on the ground in the centre of the group. A fourth person whose face was indistinguishable thanks to the her hair being messily pulled around and thrown across her face to cover it. The person's smell was familiar though, yet foreign at the same time. They were definitely a Wolfblood. Maddy could tell that much even at a distance. It was only as she got right up to them that she could see what was going on. She still couldn't place the figure on the ground, but the three standing around them were holding a clear box containing a blue light that swayed and pulsed gently like a blob of wax in a lava lamp. Black strings surrounded it, seeming to restrict its movements.

Suddenly, Maddy realised what she was looking at. The figure on the ground was recently dead. The clear vessel holding the light wasn't just a box, it was a prison. The light wasn't swaying gently at all. It was violently writhing and twisting as though it sensed the box had no lid at the moment and was frantically trying to get out. The occasional pulsing was a desperate cry; a scream that no one could hear and even fewer seemed to care about. But it was only as the lid of the box went on, sealed in place by some form of unholy dark light that Maddy actually realised who the person on the ground was. It was her. Her skin was withered, pale and corpse-like. Her eyes were wide open and staring up at the sky, any trace of light gone from them. They were unseeing. Soulless.

It was as that thought ghosted across Maddy's mind that she came to the crashing realisation of just what the three figures were holding. Immediately, she turned to run. She didn't get more than two steps before tripping over her own feet and landing in front of something that her brain instantly recognised as the wolf rug from the Driscolls' manor when that crazy couple had tried to hold her and almost everyone she cared about until the full moon. But suddenly, it corrected itself. This rug was different. It was a light brown one, smaller than the one at the manor. Clearly, it wasn't fully grown when it was shot. Suddenly, her mind pieced it together. This was _her_ wolf. Unable to contain her screams, she jumped up and ran. She headed back up the slope she'd come down when she unknowingly stepped into this nightmare and tried to clear the brambles in one leap. She misjudged it disastrously. Her jump scarcely failed to give her any lift as she started to fall backwards, rolling down the embankment as a crashing pain shot through her ankle. She managed to stop herself just before she hit the water, rolling away when one of the eels snapped at her. It got dangerously close to her ear, but missed by a hair's breadth.

"Maddy, are you okay?" Maddy's head snapped up to see Rhydian standing at the top of the hill. He jumped down effortlessly and Maddy instantly made the decision that if she ever had kids, Rhydian would be the one who taught them how to move even if he wasn't the father. He was so confident in himself and what he was doing that he made it look easy and it only made Maddy feel even more stupid for messing up the jump.

"I think I've hurt my ankle!" Maddy reached over to try and straighten it by hand only to let out a pained yell. Rhydian took it and hurriedly manoeuvred it into position. As he did, the blood flow started again and the feeling began to return to normal. He went to check the rest of her over only for her to grab his head and smash their mouths together. In spite of everything around her and the waking nightmare she'd somehow been trapped in, Rhydian was the only one she could trust. She clung to him like he were a life raft. Everything around them seemed to fade away as they kissed, until she reluctantly had to pull back for air. A smile twisted the corners of Rhydian's lips.

"And that..." Rhydian said as Maddy closed her eyes and leaned into him. But when he spoke again, her heart instantly sank. The voice this time was different. It wasn't Rhydian's.

"...is why you'll always live in our shadows." Maddy looked up to find Rhydian gone. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but she forced them down as three shapes she knew well emerged from the fog. Kay, Kara and Katrina seemed to tower over her, cutting much more imposing figures than they would normally.

"As long as you let your emotions anchor you..." Katrina began.

"...you'll always remain weaker than us." Kara finished.

"You'll be forever at our feet, always scrounging in our footsteps." Kay mocked, holding up the box with the trapped soul in it. Maddy launched upwards, striking out at the box with her fist. The Ks each let out a startled yell as it tumbled from Kay's hands and hit the floor. The blue light began to pour from it as the chains of darkness broke and erupted from the box, lashing out to try and grab hold of anything they could as though they were alive. The girls frantically bent to retrieve it while Maddy used the time she'd bought herself to make another run at the embankment. This time, she managed the jump. She effortlessly cleared the hedgerow and rolled into a clean landing on the other side. She stood up and dusted herself off, only then finding out that she'd jumped from the frying pan into the literal fire.

Clowns as far as the eye could see littered the pumpkin field. Fear instantly gripped Maddy before she noticed that actually, she was seeing it wrong. They weren't clowns, but scarecrows. Obviously whoever had built them had been hoping that the birds that attempted to plague the field had Coulrophobia just like she did. It made her subconsciously flash back to a horror movie she'd watched with Shannon and the boys called Hallowed Ground. She instantly forced it down. This was _not_ that movie and she would be just fine provided-

The scarecrows woke up. Each of them raised their heads in perfect unison before wrenching their way off their mountings. Hunting around, they grabbed hold of an alarming array of scythes, sickles and other bladed implements; everything from shears to trowels with scoops that were broken, leaving some incredibly sharp edges. Now armed, they began to stumble forward in an almost zombie-like manner. Maddy was overwhelmed by the rustling of their straw stuffing, the noise grating as it rattled around inside her head.

Desperately, she broke into a run. Her feet seemed to fly, barely touching the ground. All around her, even more scarecrows were tearing themselves off their cross frames and picking up rusted farming equipment. As Maddy ran, she was relieved to see a figure in the distance. It was the farmer and he was patrolling his pumpkin fields, inspecting each one as he went. This was perfect. These were his scarecrows. If anyone knew how to stop them, he would. She ran over to him, calling out for help.

"Hey, now hold on there, lass! What's going on? You look like you've just run a mile!"

"Your scarecrows are coming to life!" Maddy explained hurriedly, panting raggedly.

"What?" He let out a forced laugh. "Young lady, I think your imagination must be playing tricks."

"Can't you see them?" Maddy demanded, gesturing at the rapidly advancing scarecrow army.

"Well, I'm sure there must be an explanation." The farmer looked around calmly, not seeming to realise the imminent danger. Suddenly, a scarecrow attacked from the side. It brought its blade slicing down across the farmer's face, blinding him instantly. He dropped to the floor as his pained screams hit the air. As it happened, Maddy felt an odd sense of calmness wash over her.

"Well, that sucks." She said the words before she knew what she was saying. "I... I'm not even going to bother running. What's the point? I'm legitimately about to die now because you weren't being vigilant _at all_! I literally just told you what was happening and you tried to explain it instead of just running or fighting. I honestly can't even feel bad for you. That's it. The end of the field can't be far away. Where am I supposed to go from there?" As she spoke, she noticed that the scarecrows had stopped and frozen in place. Maddy realised she was getting somewhere and carried on. "I don't know why you'd have clown scarecrows. That's the stupidest thing ever! It's unbelievable!" As one, the scarecrows dropped their tools and sagged to the ground. It all clicked into place in Maddy's head. Everything was a metaphor. This dream was a manifestation of all her fears. All she had to do was face them.

"Well done, Maddy." The Ks emerged from the fog. Kay was holding the box again, having recaptured the soul in it. Kara was doing a sarcastic slow clap while Katrina was standing there fiddling with her cloak and complaining about how she'd managed to rip it on the hedge. "Now, I think we have some unfinished business." The smirk on Kay's face made Maddy feel ready to snap.

"Yeah, we do." Maddy advanced on them. "Who the hell do you think you're fooling? A trapped soul and magic rituals? You three are the least likely people to be doing magic! You don't even talk like the real versions!" She gestured past Kay and pointed to Kara and Katrina. "Especially you two." Kara and Katrina let out screams as the fog reared back and then surged over them. It dragged them away, their cries receding into the distance. With them gone, Maddy rounded on Kay. "And you, Kay, are the least likely of all to be doing any sort of thing like this. Everyone knows that the closest thing to magic in your family happens while you're at street dance on Wednesdays and your mum has the landlord over. I'm not scared of you anymore and I'm not scared of the other two either. If it comes to it, I _hope_ you try something at school next time I see you. You'll find out just why you shouldn't mess with an alpha female." Again, the fog surged forward. Kay let out a scream as it dragged her off, her fingers desperately trying to claw her way back by grabbing anything she could; but the scarecrow bodies kept causing her to trip backwards and were incredibly light. She only succeeded in dragging them with her as she was carried off. As her screams faded, Maddy walked to the hedgerow. It looked just as lethal as ever, but she was unafraid.

"The only obstacles are the ones I put in my own way." She pushed through with confidence. The brambles didn't bother her. The thorny vines disintegrated and fell away as she touched them. She moved through unhindered and eased herself down the hill to the lake. The eels were still there and they seemed to have only grown angrier and more violent in their thrashing movements. But for all that, there also seemed to be a note of desperation. She approached the water's edge and fearlessly stepped in. As she did, the eels instantly started to retreat. "Don't fear the unknown." She continued walking, the water passing the top of her trousers and rapidly approaching her neck. Not even bothering to take a breath, she let her head sink under the water.

Maddy instantly felt like she was falling. She landed heavily to the sound of a sharp crack and a blinding pain erupting in her right foot all over again. She lay back, gasping and trying not to scream out in pain. Nervously, some sheep came over. They seemed keen to inspect the new and sudden arrival to their field on the off-chance it turned out to be either friendly or baring food. They bunched in close and seemed to want to keep her safe. Maddy instantly regretted that Emma was cooking lamb for supper tonight.

"Maddy, where are you?" Rhydian's voice drifted from the other side of the hedge. Clearly, he'd noticed that she'd left the field.

"Over here!" Maddy called out, not knowing whether he could hear her. The sheep were becoming restless and their bleating was going a long way to drowning her voice out. Nevertheless, Rhydian burst through the hedge about thirty seconds later. He jumped down the hill just as effortlessly as he had in her nightmare, but the sheep blocked Maddy's view of his landing. Hastily, he started turfing them aside to get to her. They let out surprised cries of protest, but moved away all the same.

"Are you okay?" Rhydian asked as he held out a hand to help her up.

"I hurt my ankle." Maddy gestured to her right foot. Rhydian bent down and pulled the edge of her sock down to see.

"Well, you've got one hell of a sprain but I don't think it's broken." He gently moved around to her side and picked her up to carry her bridal style. Maddy burned with embarrassment as she realised that everyone in the field would see. It was a display of affection that she'd never dreamed of allowing so publicly. Her humiliation only deepened when Rhydian proceeded to made the climb back up the hill effortlessly despite the fact he was carrying her.

As they made it through the hedgerow, everyone turned to see what was going on. Maddy tried not to let her mortification show as Rhydian carried her over to Emma and Dan, who had spotted them and were running over.

"What happened?" Dan asked, looking Maddy over and taking in the state of her.

"I honestly couldn't tell you." Maddy muttered, giving up all hope of trying to make sense of it.

"She'd hurt her ankle." Rhydian told them. "I don't think it's broken, but it might be an idea if someone else took a look at it."

"Let's get her back to the car and I'll have a look." Emma nodded.

"Not here, _please_!" Maddy tried not to sound like she was begging. "Everyone here has seen way too much already."

"She's right." Rhydian agreed. He adjusted his grip on Maddy and she felt the hand on her back holding her tighter, supporting her.

"Okay, we'll pull into a lay-by somewhere. Dan grabbed the car keys and they started walking towards the car. Rhydian helped Maddy into her seat and got in next to her.

"Thanks." Maddy muttered gratefully as she leaned into him, taking in his scent and glad to be back with him for real this time.

"So..." he began as Dan started the car and pulled out of the parking space. "Why don't you tell us what happened?" Maddy did. She left nothing out even though she knew how insane it sounded.

"But there wasn't a lake in that field." Rhydian looked perplexed. "There was enough sheep in there to feed a Wolfblood for a month, but there wasn't a lake." Emma and Dan were quiet, exchanging looks and clearly thinking the same thing.

"Spit it out." Maddy's glare left no room for argument. Emma and Dan instantly knew she was onto them, so decided it was pointless to hide it.

"It sounds like it could have been a Selkie or some sort of similar creature." Emma said. "There are folk-tales of them all over Scotland. In some of them, the Selkies feed off fear, but I never imagined they were true!"

"Wait, why are we specifically talking about Scottish legends?" Rhydian asked, confused.

"Rhydian, this is Northumbria." Maddy pointed out. "It's between Northern England and South-Western Scotland. It's entirely possible that if anything from Scottish tales exists it could show up here as well."

"You know, I keep forgetting that." Rhydian shrugged. "It's probably your accent that does it."

"_My_ accent?" Maddy reached up and swatted him on the arm.

"Ow! Yes, your accent!" Rhydian rubbed his arm furiously. "Well, you're not Scottish. That accent is definitely Geordie. Plus, Shannon's family come from Chelsea and I know at least one half of Tom's family come from Nigeria. I know Ceri is Welsh like I always thought. I don't know about my Dad, but I intent to find out one day. Ever since I got taken into foster care, I've been sent all over the country like a parcel with half the address ripped off. It's surprisingly easy to forget where I am nowadays."

"That's..." Maddy stopped as he realised he made a good point. "Actually, that's fair enough. And what Mum's saying makes sense as well. The whole thing was about facing my fears. Once I did that, the nightmare ended."

"Well, it's good you weren't hurt, anyway." Rhydian said as he pulled her into a hug. She leaned into him again and planted a kiss on his cheek. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She sat up quickly, panic flaring in her chest.

"We didn't get the pumpkins!"

"Don't worry love, we'll go back and get them tomorrow." Emma assured her. "There's still plenty of time until Halloween. Wolfbloods heal faster than humans as well so if you haven't broken that ankle then it should be no worse than a regular twist by tomorrow." Maddy visibly relaxed.

"I swear to god she pretty much lives for the day each year that we go to get a Halloween pumpkin." Dan muttered. "If we ever become grandparents, the kids will be found under a pumpkin rather than a head of cabbage."

"Dad!" Maddy flushed bright red. Rhydian couldn't tell if that was from embarrassment or anger.

"He was joking, Mads." Rhydian rubbed her back between the shoulder blades in the way he knew she was weak to. Sure enough, she pretty much melted into him. She was looking forward to having him over for Halloween.

As she sat back in the seat and watched the world pass her by through the car window, Maddy couldn't help but reflect on the nightmare. It had been more than just a cruel projection of her darkest fears. It had deliberately lulled her into a stupor by showing her some of her greatest desires and fantasies first. But was it potentially even more than _that_? Was it trying to show her things that lay in her future? The clown scarecrows were unlikely, but the Ks were for certain. She'd see them at school next week, and she'd be ready for them. She'd put up with them grinding down her confidence long enough. As for everything else, she didn't know what lay ahead. But whatever came her way, she knew Rhydian would never leave her side just as she'd never leave his. They would face it together.

End!

**Author's Note: Okay, so I know I planned to write a sequel to Laser Tag since so many people wanted it, but it just hasn't been coming to me. So what I'm going to do is write it when something inspires it, but not as a Halloween story. It'll just be a oneshot that follows it up to save waiting until October 2020. That said, I also have a treat for you guys on Halloween week. This is something I've never done before and so I hope you'll enjoy it. As for what it is, you'll find out on Sunday when I make the announcement. **


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